Sol
Human male, born LY 221, in First Village. Died 281, in Sorret. Spirit-talker and Grand Sorreter (272-281). "The Book of Sol" is the twenty-first book of the O'Gas. The practice of spirit-talking had gone on for over a century on The Land, by the time Sol (pronounced sôl) was born, though as yet there was little if any organization among spirit-talkers. (The Order would not be founded until nearly two centuries later.) However, each of the two villages that existed on the Land had its own bishop, though the title was more honorary than it would become upon the founding of the Order. Certainly all spirit-talkers other than bishops were considered equal (there were no vice-bishops), so it would be impossible to say precisely how prominent Sol was, within his village. In fact, he did not even begin his own book of the O'Gas until 270, when he was 49 years old. It was at that time that two non-spirit-talkers in his district, Murray and Jess, came to him with a question. The two of them had had an idea, that it might be possible for humans to learn to practice magic. They wanted Sol to tell them not only whether it would be possible, but also whether it would be considered sacrilegious. Over the course of the next week, Sol talked to various spirits he knew about the idea, and they all assured him it would be both possible and acceptable. And so, Sol, Murray, and Jess gathered together various villagers (including both spirit-talkers and non-spirit-talkers) from First Village, and they traveled southwest to Tonad (then the only other village on the Land), where they got some of that village's citizens (including one spirit-talker) to join them. From there, the group headed west, and when they reached the coast of First Land, they founded the village of Sorret. Sol became its first bishop. Early on, many settlers who had not previously been spirit-talkers became so, not out of a religious sensibility as do most people who become spirit-talkers, but out of necessity, for it was spirits who would at first have to teach them how to make use of natural laws God had built into the Universe when He first created it. Many of these laws seemed to contradict what was already known by Landian scientists, and therefore allowed for the possibility of doing things that seemed impossible, and therefore magical. However, these things are not truly beyond the possibility of being achieved scientifically; it's just that doing them by such means would first require many years, perhaps centuries or in some cases even millennia of research and development. Doing them by magic was essentially skipping over many developments which would come in the interim. (It's important to note that understanding of these natural laws is what allows spirits as well as Sorreters to do seemingly magical things, but God Himself is not bound by these laws, and is the only being in the Universe who can do truly impossible, genuinely "magical" things, which no spirit or human could ever do, either by so-called magic or science.) Of course, many villagers did not study magic, but merely took on normal societal roles, as they had been accustomed to in their home villages. Even so, they became used to seeing spirits around town, and also to seeing the magic users, who came to be called Sorreters, perform acts of magic. Meanwhile, the Sorreters developed a hierarchy for themselves over time, which would many years later inspire the religious hierarchy developed by the Order. At first, all Sorreters were apprentices, but once they had attained a certain proficiency, they would be considered adepts (though it bears noting that in those early years, the requirements for reaching this level were considerably less than they are today). Eventually, they learned enough to become master-adepts, who could go on to teach new apprentices, often without the need for spirits to help in the training. It was decided in 272 that there should be one person considered the highest Sorreter, and he or she would be referred to as the "Grand Sorreter." Sol was named the first Grand Sorreter that very year, even though at that point he was technically still an apprentice, just like everyone else. He did grow to be powerful, by the standards of the day, though he is the only Grand Sorreter in history who was not required to develop an original spell of his own in order to qualify for the position. It should also be noted that it became traditional for each Grand Sorreter to become Sorret's bishop, though this was not necessarily always the case. See also *List of Grand Sorreters Category:People